The health care sector still makes up the largest portion of death claims but saw a 3% decrease in reported claims since February. From January through July, COVID-19 death claims increased from 0.36% to 0.60%. (Credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com) The health care sector still makes up the largest portion of death claims but saw a 3% decrease in reported claims since February. From January through July, COVID-19 death claims increased from 0.36% to 0.60%. (Credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com)

In February 2021, Out Front Ideas with Kimberly and Mark, hosted its most attended webinar to date, which featured data around COVID-19 claims and provided valuable insight into current trends, claims development and the real impact the pandemic has had on workers' compensation.

At their September 2021 virtual conference, Elevate, a panel of experts provided updates on the most comprehensive and current COVID-19 claims data available. Panelists were:

  • Max Koonce, chief claims officer, Sedgwick
  • Tim Stanger – vice president – claims, Safety National
  • Alex Swedlow – president, California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI)

CWCI claims' data trends

Currently, COVID-19 represents about 13% of all workers' compensation claims. Since the last Out Front Ideas presentation of CWCI's data in February, California's claims count of infections has grown by 31% and 51% in terms of additional fatalities. California represents about 12.5% of the U.S. population but makes up about 10.7% of infections and 10% of deaths.

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